By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

Philippines health officials reported 3,544 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections today, bringing the total cases to 269,407, making it the country with the 21st most cases globally, bypassing Germany.

The majority of the newly announced cases are from the Metro Manila area, followed by Cavite, Rizal and Negros Occidental.

The death toll is now at 4663, with the addition of 34 Tuesday.

On Monday, country health authorities gave a hat tip to the  Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) for their lab testing volume since the outbreak began.

The Institute tested a total of 254,846 samples corresponding to 214,209 unique individuals as of September 11, or more than 8 percent of the country’s volume.

In addition, RITM is responsible for validating testing methodologies for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in the country.

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The Philippines has performed more than 3 million COVID-19 tests to date, the highest testing capacity among the countries in the Southeast Asian region.